The former My Chemical Romance frontman began drinking heavily when problems hit with the band and it sunk him into a depression he knew he had to beat for the sake of his five-year-old daughter Bandit.

In an interview with NME magazine, he said: ''I relapsed, not into drugs, but booze. I was self-medicating again to get through and I'd forgotten how miserable that made me.

''It took me to this dark place again, but there was more at stake this time. I started to face the hypothetical reality of Bandit not having a father.

''I started taking that seriously, thinking, 'I want her to have a dad. A guy that's present.' Because one way or another - either by death or asylum - she's gonna be fatherless if I keep this up. [I had to] break the band or break me.''

Gerard, 37, was able to pull himself out of depression thanks to medication and therapy and says he has reached the point where his counselling sessions have become ''fun''.

He said: ''It's almost like I'm in the fun part of therapy now. It's like, let's tweak the engine, you know? Let's make some refinements. Before it was just, 'Save my life please.'''